Alwaght- Ukrainian government has signed separate agreements with Italy and Canada on military and security cooperation.
The agreements come as Ukraine marks third anniversary of war.
"Our meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are always meaningful. Today we have an important result. We signed a bilateral security cooperation agreement between Ukraine and Italy," an X post by Ukrainian Presidential Volodmyr Zelensky said.
Zelenskyy and Meloni discussed further support for Ukraine in the context of Italy’s G7 Presidency.
“I am grateful to Italy for its support of Ukraine and our defense capabilities, as well as recovery efforts and approval of military aid until the end of 2024,” he further said.
Zelenskyy said he signed a security cooperation agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which allocates more than $2.2 billion in macro-financial and defense assistance in 2024.
He also had a meeting with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
“We must be no less active in Ukraine's European integration than we were last year. Together, we must address each of the existing disagreements in Europe – and we must together defend our Europe from all forms of Russian aggression against Europe. Our Europe is and will remain among the global leaders,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The agreements with Western countries come as these days Kiev is hosting Western officials visiting to show that their support is unwavering to the country.
The Western officials have also said that Ukraine would join the NATO, one day, something that would break Russian red line.
Jens Stoltenberg said there was no doubt that Ukraine would join NATO as Western leaders gathered in Kiev to pledge support.
He said Nato was helping Kiev to make its forces “more and more interoperable” with the defence alliance and would open a joint training and analysis centre in Poland.
Ukraine will join NATO. It is not a question of if, but of when,” Stoltenberg insisted from Kiev.
The West is training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. The fighter jets are expected to arrive in Ukraine this summer, according to Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
However, the aids to Ukraine dropped since Israel waged war on Gaza in October. Ukraine’s recent losses have been blamed on faltering Western aids.
Last week, Ukrainian forces lost to Russias the key city of Avidiivka in Donetsk, a loss seen as a major blow to Ukraine and to the West that has been bragging about effectiveness of its weapons provided to Kiev.
